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The Library Haul – Aug 19

We try to take our littles (ages 5 and 3) the library almost every Saturday to get a fresh armful of books to tide us over for the week. We’ve missed the past few weekends, so this library haul is from a while back, but I thought I’d try to give a quick sum up.

Dog Loves Books by Louise Yates. Dog loves books so they open a book store. A cute story, but a little bland. ⭐⭐⭐ ½ And no request for rereads. 😕

Michael Recycle Meets Litter Bug Doug by Ellie Bethel. Cute story, great message, fun rhymes, and great illustrations. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ But… no request for rereads. 😕

Pirate Chicken All Hens on Deck by Brian Yanish. Chicken gets tired of being a chicken, so becomes a pirate. But then gets tired of being a bad pirate… and goes back to chicken life. Story fell a little flat for me. ⭐⭐⭐ And no request for rereads. 😕

Fire Truck vs Dragon by Chris Barton. Fire truck and Dragon are friends and do a lot of fun things together. A cute simple story with great illustrations aimed at the younger picture book crowd (2-4). ⭐⭐⭐⭐ And it seemed to be a hit with the 3yo with multiple reread requests. 😍

Eerie Elementary by Jack Chabor. After perusing the pictures, my 5yo rejected this one on the basis of being too scary. No rating.

The Last Firehawk by Katrina Charman (#6-9). Owl, squirrel, & firehawk go on epic fantasy adventure, battling against the evil vulture and finding the firehawk’s family. My 5yo LOVED this series. They were always the first books he wants when we get in the car, an whenever get back he checks to make sure they don’t have #10 yet (it doesn’t come out until November.) So this one gets double heart eyes! 😍 😍

Kung Pow Chicken by Cyndi Marko. Goofy super hero chicken and sidekick egg brother fight silly crime. My five year old seems to enjoy these, and he reads through them very quickly independently. We’ll definitely be picking up more of this series. 😍

Who Would Win? Ultimate Jungle Rumble by Jerry Palotta In which they make a bracket and postulate which animals would win in a fight to the death. A bit morbid perhaps… but as a kid I probably would’ve loved this series. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ And my kids asked me to reread this SOOOO many times. 😍 😍

Maisy Plays Soccer by Lucy Cousins. Exactly as the title describes. Super simple story, but Maisy books have always been a hit at our house in the younger age groups (1-3). ⭐⭐⭐⭐ And 3yo asked for a reread. 😍

Flyguy Presents Dinosaurs by Tedd Arnold. Very standard dinosaur book. No facts we didn’t know before, and the illustrations were pretty basic. This is my second flyguy book, and it hasn’t really resonated with the boys or me. ⭐⭐⭐ ½ And no reread request. 😕 Which is kind of shocking considering this is a dinosaur book!

Our Saturdays are busier with fall sports, but hopefully we’ll still be able to squeeze in our library visits!

Whew! And that’s it for now! Tune in next week for the review of our next library haul! Kid’s book recommendations and review requests welcome (as long as it’s find-able at our library).

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Book Review – One of Us is Next

This is a sequel, so I’ll keep this review short, but while a pleasant enough YA suspense, I didn’t think this one was as good as One of Us is Lying.

One of Us Is Next follows three kids from Bayview high that are loosely related to the kids from the first book. Basically, someone starts mass texting the whole school in a weird truth or dare game that gets out of hand, and the three POVs are scrambling to find out who.

This book hits all the usual notes of a YA mystery, but it felt a little slower paced than McManus’ other books I’ve read. Maybe I came into this book with expectations high after the first one, but the suspense wasn’t as intense as the first book, the reveal seemed a bit expected, and the characters/romances fell a little flat for me. I got the audiobook from the library, and I thought the male voice was a little annoying, which might have contributed to the problem.

I’d probably still recommend this one if you’re a McManus fan, but if there’s a third entry in the series, I’m not sure I’d read it.

⭐⭐⭐¾ 

And don’t listen to weird texts from rando’s! 😆

Thanks for reading!

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Audiobook Review – The Dating Dare

The Dating Dare follows Seth and Tara, two people that have had bad luck with relationships in the past, but agree to a short term fling (the dating dare) before Seth leaves for Paris.

Full disclosure, I think this book is considered a stand-alone spin-off of book one, A Sweet Mess, but since I didn’t read book one, this was my first interaction with these characters, which felt a little awkward, and I think reading the first book probably would’ve given me some better context. (i.e. seeing people regard Seth as a playboy rather than just being told that most people think he is one.)

But anyways, let’s start with what I liked: Seth is fantastic. He seems all around just dreamy and wonderful, and the narrative was seamlessly split between his and Tara’s narratives. I really liked the premise, and I am all for characters promising not to fall in love with one another. And the side characters, though they don’t play a large role, were all fleshed out in a way that made me want to learn more about them, building a charming little small town world around the two leads.

That said though, I’m afraid I really didn’t like Tara. I felt like Seth did nearly all the romantic lifting throughout the book, and their banter felt a little forced or cheesy to me. But this may have been in part due to the fact that I thought her voice in the audiobook was a little annoying. Other than that, this book doesn’t pack a whole of lot of surprises. It’s a cute little romance that progresses exactly how you think it would, with a satisfying ending. For this one, I think I’d recommend picking up the first book for context, and then maybe sticking to the ebook instead of the audiobook.

Thanks so much to the publisher and NetGalley for the free ARC!

⭐⭐⭐1⁄2 

Tula looking a bit whelmed here.

Thanks for reading!

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Book Review – Obsidio

Obsidio is the final book of a trilogy, so this review will be a little shorter. I *loved* the first two Illuminae books, so I was eager to dive into this one. Unfortunately, I do think this was the weakest of the trilogy. Asha and Rhys didn’t have a whole lot of chemistry to speak of, and I felt like Asha and her story just fell a little flat in general. I think the first half dragged a little, but the second half more than made up for it. I loved seeing the characters from the other books in action, and Aiden, to me, totally makes these books. For some reason, I can’t help but love our AI anti-hero.

In this book, we also find out who the analysts are that have been transcribing/narrating the videos… and weirdly it took me out of the story. I felt like the narrative of this book was less suited to the epistolary style. This book didn’t have the big mind-blowing twist of the other two, but it still made for a satisfying ending to the trilogy.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Tula giving the Illuminae series her full attention.

Thanks for reading!

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Audiobook Review – The Chase (Fox and O’Hare #2)

Just a quick review for this one since it’s a sequel. The Chase by Evanovich and Goldberg backs in more of the stuff I loved from the first book! All of our favorite characters are back, the action is even more fast-paced than before, and Nick and Kate’s relationship continues to evolve with all the snappy banter you could want. The audiobook narrator is excellent, and I’ll be definitely checking out book 3 from the library. Solid five star heist book. I guess my only quibble is that it wraps up REALLY quick there at the end. While it could work as a stand-alone, I would recommend reading book one for the full effect. Also, for the record, I recommend the first book to my husband, and he also really enjoyed it and plans to read the second one, which is quite the recommendation! But seriously though, someone make these movies already – I neeeed them!!!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Banter-filled heists – give me more!!!

Thanks for reading!

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Book Review – Thief of Spring

So Thief of Spring by Katherine Macdonald follows a mortal (contemporary) girl who comes across a fae (who are actually interwoven with the legends of the greek gods) Samhain revel, and is spirited down to live in the underworld for 7 months with (fae) Hades.

Where to even begin. WHAT DID I NOT LIKE?! The writing style is clean and fresh and beautiful. The dialogue is snappy and keeps the plot moving. The author wove this huge, dark, tantalizing world seamlessly around the tale of Hades and Persephone, and it just totally blew me away. Then there were the characters! I am seriously attached to both Hades and Persephone.

Seriously, they are so cute it almost physically pains me. They’re both so lovely and hurt in their own way, and the gentle way they put each other back together in a slow-burn that you can just drink in is absolutely fabulous.

And then the ending! Okay, I knew something was up and stuff was about to go down… but it just all happened in this intense climax, that honestly just left my jaw hanging in the best way.

I’m not huge into sequels, and I promised myself that I wouldn’t download anymore until I cleaned out current Kindle TBR. But apparently I lied, because I bought it and it’s on there now. So yeah. Basically, this book was a huge, wonderful surprise, and if you love YA fantasy or YA romance (or even better, both) you will totally fall in love with this book. The romance is standard YA heat (maybe a mild PG-13), the language is mildish, and there are some Harry Potter and other pop culture references in case you’re not into any of that.

But I loved it so five glittering stars to one of my favorite books of the year thus far, and I can’t wait to read the sequel!

🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟  

These are my excited “I can’t wait to read the sequel” eyes!

Thanks for reading!

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Book Review – The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

So, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill feels like two books pushed into one. There’s the plot thread of found family, which is wonderfully cute and fantastic, and then there’s the romance thread… which I kind of wish would’ve just be cut out. Which is something I never thought would come out of my mouth! Cut the romance! Good lord no! 😲 But also, yes.

I really liked the clever, voicey narrative, but I think my main issue was that I found Nina a little inconsistent. Where she was extremely anxious and all-planned with the love interest, she seemed to be fine rolling with the obstacles her new, huge, dramatic family threw her way. And I think it was this inconsistency that made me not like her so her so much… or maybe feel like she just wasn’t that into the love interest? Either way, their chemistry really didn’t work for me.

There’s also another plot point that’s hard to describe without giving it away, but I honestly was a little surprised because it was something they worried about for most of the book (or more weirdly… didn’t worry about) and they ended up using the most obvious solution in the end. 😕

But I still loved listening to the witty narrative (the narrator was great in the audiobook), loved meeting her rich, drama-fest family, and there were many instances where, as a introverted bookworm, I got where Nina was coming from. I’d still recommend this to anyone just looking for a fun found-family type of book… but just probably not a romance.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ½  

Told from The Bookish Life of Hayley (minus a mysterious billionaire dad.)

Thanks for reading!

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The Library Haul – Jul 25

We try to take our littles (ages 5 and 3) the library almost every Saturday to get a fresh armful of books to tide us over for the week. I was traveling for work last week, so I didn’t get to read each of these the usual 3-5 times. But I read most of them at least once!

The Last Firehawk #5 & 6 by Katrina Charman. We finished up book #4 last week, and my 5yo started cracking into book 5. The basic ongoing premise of kid-warrior owl, spunky squirrel friend, and quickly-growing baby firehawk vs evil vulture and co. continues (via collecting ember stone pieces). We’ve been somewhat sidetracked by the latest Dragon Master book, but hopefully we’ll finish these up this week in time to nab book #7 & #8. Since my 5yo reads these independently and can follow the story it gets a: 😍

Mouse and Mole by Wong Herbert Yee. Sadly we didn’t get around to this one this week (that I know of) so back to the library it goes. No rating.

Dragon Loves Tacos 2 The Sequel by Adam Rubin. Um. I hate to say it, but this wasn’t for me. There’s a taco shortage so they make a time machine to go back in time to get a taco, bring it the future and… plant a taco tree. Naturally dragons keep getting the spicy tacos which gives them flaming breath. The story, prose, and illustrations all fell pancake flat for me. The only reason I’ll give it three stars is because the littles made me read it three times. ⭐⭐⭐ from me. 😍 from the littles.

How to be a Pirate by Isaac Fitzgerald. The boys in the treehouse say she can’t be a pirate, so the little girl goes to her seaworthy-looking grandfather to show her how to be a real pirate through his tattoos. And spoiler alert, she takes over the treehouse as the best pirate ever, to the awe of the boys. This one was probably my favorite one we read! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

But my littles, alas, didn’t ask for a reread. 😕

Superbuns by Diane Kredensor. Little sister buns goes around being a super hero with the power of kindness, but her older sister doesn’t buy it until she gets her own chance to be nice. This was more of a meh for us. The superhero-kindness connection didn’t seem quite as strong as it could have been. The illustrations were bright and catchy. ⭐⭐⭐½ But there was no request for rereads. 😕

The Magic School Bus Sees Stars by Nancy White. My kids LOVE magic school bus, and it actually gets them asking questions about the world so these are always safe choices for us. I have read magic school bus books a million times and they have seen all the episodes (original and reboot) at least 3 times each. So yeah. Magic Schoolbus is always a solid choice. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 😍

The Dragon Hunters by James Russell. A cute story with cute illustrations about two boys who go save their dog from a dragon. It reads well, but I guess it just didn’t seem to stand out to me, and apparently it didn’t stand up to my boys either because we only read it the once. I would still give the other books in the series a try though. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 😕

I Can Read! Level 2: The Amazing Spiderman by Susan Hill (I think.) This is your pretty standard “this is Peter Parker aka Spider-man” early reader. I probably read this 3 times, and they picked it up multiple times themselves because, you know, superheroes. My only beef is at the end Peter says “I’m not a nerd! I’m Spider-man!” Which… c’mon, I mean honestly he’s both, and he’s obviously in some self denial here. Plus, at least in this house, we think fondly of nerds, so we were all confused by this comment. You can’t be a nerd and a superhero? I thought that was kind of the point. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 😍

Mind your Manners by Nicola Edwards. This book was a pleasant surprise! I thought the author did a great job of illustrating why bad manners are gross and rude, and how being nice really helped straightened out the animals and make them all happier. I would totally recommend this one! My boys were also asking questions and seemed to get it to (although they didn’t pick it up by themselves or ask for a reread. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 😍

The Last Firehawk saga continues! (And yes I am sitting in the doorjamb because that it just where my laptop and I happen to be right now. 😂)

Whew! And that’s it for now! Tune in next week for the review of our next library haul! Kid’s book recommendations and review requests welcome (as long as it’s find-able at our library).

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Audiobook Review – Two Can Keep a Secret

Two Can Keep a Secret follows Ellery and her twin brother as they move in with their grandma in the small town their mother grew up in. Death threats start popping up at their school, which has Ellery, a true crime addict, digging into past murders in the town and trying to fit the pieces together.

This is really just a solid YA mystery. Not as clever or as neat as “One of Us is Lying” perhaps, but still filled with plenty of false leads and lots of intertwining threads. I did not guess who the murderer was, but they were in my top two, so I wasn’t completely surprised. Ellery and Malcolm are both likeable, and I enjoyed their little side romance. The writing is snappy, and the ending is satisfying. I would totally recommend to all looking for a clean YA mystery, and I will definitely be reading more from McManus in the future.

My only minor issue is that I listened to the audiobook (courtesy of the library), and I found the male narrator for Malcolm to be slightly annoying/grating. It’s probably just a personal preference though!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Who doesn’t love a fun YA with murder?

Thanks for reading!

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Audiobook Review – The Guilt Trip

So, The Guilt Trip starts off with a dead body. Then, backtracking, we follow three couples as they travel to a destination wedding, and stay together in a scenic villa in Portugal. We follow Rachel, a 40yo mother, as pieces of old and new secrets are uncovered, ratcheting the tension ever higher as they get closer to the wedding.

This book was kind of like watching a train wreck in motion, you just can’t look away as these characters start to unravel before your eyes. The tension was excellent, and tightly strung the whole way through. We live heavily inside Rachel’s unreliable, over-imaginative and highly paranoid mind as she struggles to keep her secrets hidden, while also desperately trying to pry open everyone else’s. I think this book did an excellent job of keeping us guessing on what was true and what was a lie as everyone became more and more unstable. And I will give it to this book, I did not know how it was going to end, and it definitely gave me that, “I have to know” feel.

But, Rachel was not my favorite…. I wouldn’t say I actively hated her… but there was definite dislike. She’s highly hypocritical, constantly beating around the bush, quite repetitive in her justifications and worries (maybe trying to convince herself of certain things perhaps, but still a little wearisome), and honestly just overall hard to connect to. I didn’t really get why the other characters liked her… and I definitely didn’t get the connection between her and Jack at all. I guess my one biggest beef was that this book hinges on a past mistake she made that I still just *Really* don’t understand, and it makes her really unlikeable. I actually had to stop and look at my husband and ask if her actions made sense in any way. Answer: Um. No.

But, despite that issue, I still enjoyed the listen. I thought the narrator did a wonderful job with the voices and the tension, and even though I didn’t like Rachel, I blew through this twisty story, and was mostly satisfied with the ending. If you’re into dramatic relationship-based thrillers, I would totally recommend this. (3.75/5)

⭐⭐⭐¾ 

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the free ARC!

Me trying to remember any horrible life-altering decisions I made 20 years ago. In fairness, fourth grade was tough.😂

Thanks for reading!